California State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, issued the following statement Thursday regarding the decision by the State Water Resources Control Board to re-notice CEMEX’s application for a water right permit.

The full statement below:

“It’s about time! This is a major and long-overdue victory for the people of the Santa Clarita Valley. Since I first arrived in Sacramento, I have been fighting to ensure bureaucrats could not rubber stamp this decades-old application without public review.

This mega-mine was a horrible idea thirty years ago when the Santa Clarita Valley had only about 132,000 residents. It is an even worse idea today with a population of nearly half a million people.

This is great news, but now the real work begins.

(Today’s) decision means we get another at-bat to prove why this mega-mine is a threat to our community, environment and safety. Here are just some examples:

– 18-wheelers and gravel trucks would be entering and departing from the mine every two minutes, putting an additional 1,200 trucks on our local roads every day.

– Our air quality would be destroyed, due to dust created by the mine that would exceed acceptable levels by nearly 200%.

– The precious water our communities rely on would be threatened. CEMEX has permits to by pull huge amounts of water out of the Santa Clara River, the last natural river in L.A. and Ventura counties.

I am eager to work with the community and prove once and for all that this project has no business being in the Santa Clarita Valley!”

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California State Sen. Scott Wilk represents the 21st Senate District, which includes the Antelope, Santa Clarita and Victor valleys.